More unusual logs in bold
NB: A time of eg 0900 often means the 0900 recording, and not necessary the exact time of the ID.
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - FRIDAY 27th MARCH 2009:
AMAZING
RPA-1 AMP PERSEUS FILE FROM CANADA: As promised yesterday,
here is the chopped Perseus file with the test of the RPA- 1 preamp.
Listen in particular to 1280, 1610, 940 for stations well below the
audio level,that come up to a nice copy. These were recorded by Sylvain
Naud in Quebec.
This file has to be heard to be believed, and any MW dxers should take
the time to download this and listen. The company, dx engineering are
not particularly helpful, but I suspect the amp is going to be one of
my best purchases, after the Perseus itself. Watch this space. It should
arrive quite quickly.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD
A 96 MEG ZIP FILE
(REDUCED FROM 186 MEG UNZIPPED)
This is recorded at high noon local time and I was amazed at Sylvain's
quiet MW band. A great qth for MW dxing. The band is full at night of
course as some of the other recordings he sent me show strong Euros
too!!
Thanks
to David Hamilton for chopping the file for me. I can't get wavechopper
to work here, since my main PC is never on the web, required unfortunately,
to operate wave chopper. It requires a dot net framework update. Pity,
as it is such an amazing tool.
Thanks also to Sylvain for sending these and thanks to Alfie in Norway
for pointing out the audio recording Sylvain has up on line in the first
place.
I wish someone had told me about this amp in the autumn!!!!
It seems it is just what the doctor ordered for MW dxing and wideband
Perseus recordings!!.
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - THURSDAY 26th MARCH 2009:
PERSEUS ADD ON:
Today I received some Perseus files from Sylvain Naud in Canada, or
maybe I should say Quebec!! For the first time since I received the
software to record the whole MW band with the Perseus, I am amazed,
and COMPLETELY overwhealmed by the performance of a piece of kit. So
much so that I have now sent for one. What am I talking about??
THE RPA 1 wideband preamp from DX Engineering in the States. I have
not heard much about this amp until Alfie in Norway pointed me to Sylvain's
amazing recording of France on LW.
http://www.quebecdx.com/rpa1_test.mp3
And his description of the amp half way down this page, and links to the DX ENGINEERING site
http://www.quebecdx.com/others.html
http://www.dxengineering.com/Parts.asp?
ID=210&PLID=224&SecID=117&DeptID=12&PartNo=DXE-RPA-1
The
amp is perfectly suited to wideband recordings, ie it is not tuned like
for example an ATU, or a strandard MW loop.
WATCH THIS SPACE... SHOULD BE HERE IN A WEEK OR SO!!
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - WEDNESDAY 25th MARCH 2009:
NOTHING WORTHY TO REPORT: I have not much to report on. DX
has well and truly kind of petered out for the season. I don't really
expect much exotic DX, although there are often still strong signals
around. The stations I consider to be regular and easily heard here
are listed in the logs index, as
seen by clicking here.
SPORADIC E SEASON: The sporadic E season is coming around again, and hopefully this year we will have some sporadic E on the TV as well as FM band. The main season is a few weeks away, but there can be good band 1 openings in April. We will be using the Skype DX chat and cluster to report sporadic E reception, although tropo reception is discouraged, and is of no significance to anyone outside their own immediate area. eg if I report Dublin FM stations, that has no bearing on someone's reception on the South Coast for example, who may be hearing France all over the band at the same time. Sporadic E had a wider "coverage area" normally.
PERSEUS
RELEASE: Well another Perseus release has come and gone. Vs
2.1f was released yesterday. The upgrades mainly won't concern me I
don't think as a MW dxer, but I shall be experimenting with the Autonotch,
and the CW filter.
I haven't been using any memory channels either. I find it faster to
use the mouse wheel to tune up and down fast.
I guess I was kinda hoping for an improvement in the size of the playback
bar or at the least, a bug fix of the loud tones that appear during
playback if the bar is missed slightly.
1660 KRZI: I had a good signal from KRZI Waco, Texas yesterday morning at 0600.
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - MONDAY 23rd MARCH 2009:
WSAR 1480 DX TEST: A
sudden DX test was announced mid week from one of the common stations
here in Europe, WSAR, Fall River. Noted here at 0500 with ids, and ann,
but never noted the CW till just after 0600UTC, when there was some
CW. WHBC Canton also heard, but WSAR was quite good here around 0602.
Thanks to all concerned for making this dx test possible. This week
my recordings were fine!! Had good signals from WQBA 1140 at 0600 as
well. You will find better WSAR recordings in my audio files, but of
course not with CW!!.
CLICK HERE FOR THE
WSAR RECORDING
 |
 |
NOT A LOT OF DX TO REPORT: I have been relatively inactive this week. Not much to report. MWDX has been kind of average every time I have checked, which doesn't tend to hold my attention if it is the same old stations I am hearing every night. I am looking forward to the light nights and maybe even some warmer weather if that is possible, I feel I have been cooped up in a miserable old radio shack all winter.. I guess I have really.. .
On Wed 18th I noted WEZE 590 @ 0300, and WKOX again 0600. 1250 CJYE has a better EE ID at 0600 these days. Also ann // 1320 CJMR.
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - SUNDAY 15th MARCH 2009:
RADIO NORTH DX TEST: I managed to record the 0200 top of the
hour before my PC took a turn. Isn't it amazing how the PC will record
night after night flawlessly, and the night of a dx test, it fails!!!
AHHHH..
So no WHYL. I was in contact with the chap from WHYL who organised the
dx test, and he was amazed at my audio file from a few years ago.
I realised later today, that there must have been a power glitch of
some kind in the middle of the night, because the PC had not froze or
rebooted, but was off.
Here is a screen capture of 0200.
CLICK HERE TO
HEAR MY 0200 RECORDING
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - TUESDAY 10th MARCH 2009:
RADIO
NORTH DX TEST: Radio North and the DX test for the weekend
is well under way. Remember the test runs from 0200 - 0600 inclusive,
and will carry CW
around 800hz, as well as voice ids every 30m,
on the hour and on the half hour. I thought it would be helpful to see
a perseus screen shot, click for full size. This was made today, and
shows Radio North as the strongest carrier
second from the right, around 845.997.
Any of the others are weaker and farther off their target freq!! I have
to say this is on standard Perseus software, and not calibrated against
any BBC stations for example.
There is a carrier that seems to have signed off hf of the main cluster,
and s/off time was about 1900. This is about 40 minutes worth of timeline,
maybe more.
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - MONDAY 9th MARCH 2009:
REBELDE 1620: I
have a few observations from the past few days. I had some extra work
at the weekend, so hadn't much time to do much dxing, but I had recordings
from Saturday morning to check. I read Paul C and David H reports of
Rebelde, Cuba on 1620 at 0700 7/3. I checked briefly before heading
out Saturday night, but only heard WTAW on 1620. I had a listen again
to the Perseus file today, and on 600kHz, I came across the little distinctive
Rebelde tune. Using the Perseus to loop the few seconds when the tune
was played, I again checked 1620, and discovered that it WAS heard here
on 1620, but on LSB. It was barely detectable on USB!! This trick is
often worth trying, if both sidebands are available that is. Many channels
will have Euros on one sideband of course, which makes this method impossible.
There has been some speculation about this signal. Most seem to believe
it to be a "filler" or to put it bluntly, a jammer, to prevent
the ANTI Castro style programmes from WDHP 1620 being heard. It does
seem extremely unlikely that the tune was used on WDHP for some reason,
at the exact time it was played on // of 600, 710, 670 and 770, all
heard here.
COMMON STATIONS: I have created a new list of stations that I would consider to be common, and don't usually make notes or logs in my log book. This is not a list of stations that can be heard at armchair quality every night, but ones that I would expect to hear on a day when the band was average. (transatlantic_common_stations.html)
OFF TOPIC, BBC ALBUM CHARTS: As some folks like to say, off topic. It has been pointed out to me just tonight by someone who follows the charts more than I do, this web link. In fact I never look at them any more, not for a long time. here is the BBC Radio 1 Album Chart for this week. Notice that there are ALL new entries, and ALL are either soundtracks or compilations. VERY ODD!!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/albums.shtml
RECENT LOGS: It has been a while since I have listed my AM logs, mainly because I haven't really heard anything of note recently. Coming into Mid March, and REBELDE is my only personal first for the month so far.. I tend not to note the common stations, even in my log book, and thus they don't appear on the SKYPE dx cluster either. In my ALL TIME LIST which is no where near complete, but at least quite respectable now, I have noted a lot of stations I see as common, and ones which rarely appear in my log book.
550 R Nac Columbia 0700 7/3
580 CFRA 0700 7/3
920 UNID CALL hrd. Snds like WHAL HD. Which stn has this HD call?? 0200 8/2
950 CKNB 7/3 0100 VG sig today
970 Radio Formula MEX. 0600 6/3
1160 WYLL 0600 + 0700 6/3
1250 CJYE 0600 7/3 Full call id inc ann // 1320
1280 China radio int sig = CFMB 0100 6/3
1300 WXRL Manchester / Buffalo id. (Unless Worchester is pronounced different from UK)
1320 CJMR 7/3 0100 Good ee call id
1330 WRCA Watertown/ Boston 0100 7/3
1360 WTAQ 0600 7/3
1390 WFBL 0600 7/3 INC CNN radio nx
1430 CHKT 3/3 0200
1440 WRED pres 0100 7/3. Despite this being WEEI Celtic Radio Network sports, I heard this before on WRED. TOTH local ID failed, only silence.!! Good ID on Sat 7/2 0100 though.
1600 WUNR Rare EE ids 6/3 0100
1620 WNRP FL 0700 3/3
1620 Rebelde, Cuba 0700 7/3 NEW?? LSB only, barely hrd USB. WTAW dominant.
1630 WRDW Augusta 0700 2/3
1630 KKGM 0200 8/2
1640 WTNI 0200 8/2
1660 KRZI 8/2 0200
1670 GA stn with new call. Fox Sports Radio 2/3 0700
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - SUNDAY 8th MARCH 2009:
WRONG
DATE!!: I thought I better correct the date of my last entry..
hi... I had Friday's entry as 2nd!!
RADIO NORTH CONTACT DETAILS: Radio North announced
an address for QSL's for the forth coming DX test next Saturday, see
below.
radionorth846am@gmail.com
KEN'S DX DIARY AND LOGS - FRIDAY 6th MARCH 2009:
There were a few strong signals around today, although to be honest I would call them the average stations. Nothing particularly notable. WYLL 1160 would have been as good as it gets. OK I have been spoilt by the dx season this winter, and going back to drab average conditions may not be as easy as all that, and will certainly not hold my enthusiasm for the summer. I have been known to simply drift away to FM/ TVDX during the summer months, or outdoor activities, until the end of the summer. Of course I am not wishing the summer away already, far from it. I am simply saying that the band holds only a limited interest when you have to chase WBBR as DX. In days gone by, many years ago, MW dxing was seen as mid winter only hobby, as a general rule. But there is always DX to be had, even if it is during a very narrow dx window in the mid summer. I guess the farther North you go in mid summer, the worse the MW dx is, due to extended daylight.
RADIO
NORTH and WHYL DX TEST:
The DX TEST web pages report that daytimer WHYL Carlisle, PA will make
a dx test UTC Sunday 15th March, ie next weekend. From the dxtests.info
web pages:
WHYL DX TEST:
DATE: Sunday morning (late Saturday night), Mar 15, 2009.
TIME: 12 Midnight - 2 a.m. Eastern Time, 0400 - 0600 UTC
FREQ: 960kHz
MODE OF OPERATION: The station will test with 5 kW DA E-W.
The DX test will consist of "peppier" pop music, morse code
and sweep tones.
QSL INFORMATION: 1$ to help defray return postage requested. You may send postal reports to:
WHYL
ATTN Bruce Collier,
1703 Walnut Bottom Rd
Carlisle, PA 17015
U.S.A.
Thank you
to Bruce Collier for making this test possible!
RADIO NORTH DX TEST:
I have been in communications with Radio North
in Co Donegal, Eire. They have agreed to make a similar DX test that
night. The details are as follows.
DATE: Sunday morning (Late Saturday night) March 15th 2009
TIME: 0200 - 0600 inclusive. There will be voice IDs and CW
slow speed IDs every 30m on the hour and on the half hour during their
normal overnight music. There will be frequent jingle IDs thrown in
between times as well.
FREQ: 846kHz
MODE OF OPERATION: The station runs 1kW, and music will hopefully
consist of better known pop / oldies.
QSL INFORMATION: Radio North will verify with full
data QSL's for this broadcast. E mail address to be announced later
this weekend hopefully. Confirmed as radionorth846am@gmail.com
Thank you to Paul B for his continued enthusiasm towards MW dxers.
Is this the first time a European MW station has attempted a DX test??
An old flyer from the 1980's. Now 846 only.
LATIN
DX: I have often mentioned in these pages that my Latin reception
in the 80's seems to have been far better than now. My North American
reception this winter has been nothing short of spectacular this winter,
but LA's. They just don't come through very well. Last summer I made
a half hearted attempt at improving things, and using 3 separate random
and terminated long wires, trying to mimic antennas of the past. They
are all torn down due to being pretty poor. I had an EWE for Latin's
but it was pretty poor as well, as was a flag Davie H and I put up last
week. Maybe I use too large a flag. Davie up the road can hear Latin's
I have lost in splatter, so I have to assume I need a smaller aerial,
so that at least the Euros are not as strong.
Anyway, I was inspired to dig up an old ID of GLOBO 1220 from 24th Feb
1985, AT 0040.
CLICK
HERE TO LISTEN TO AN EXCITED GOAAAL...
As you can hear, I did have good signals at one time!!
MARTIN
HALLS DX: As mentioned in the Feb logs, Martin was in dire
need of a few extra sets of ears to assist with his huge amount of unchecked
recordings. He sent me a couple of DVD's, which of course really interested
me anyway, to hear his AM band.
I have come to the conclusion that I am only playing at dxing at these
lattitudes!!! I was amazed by the strength of the signals from really
obscure dx stations. OK he sent me an exceptional day, 2/12/08, and
an unchecked rec of 1130 24/1/09. AK stations are very good at times.
What is not so clever is the mess the Faroes made of the band up there.
Gees, They were exceptionally splattery here at one point, but what
a mess up there in the north. A dirty dirty transmitter. Up to 700kHz!!!!
Thank you Martin for sharing your band. Amazing.
KEN'S
DX DIARY AND LOGS - MONDAY 2nd MARCH 2009:
Here we are in March again, and traditionally towards the end of the
main dx season. Last year there were some good days in mid and late
March..
The band here has been average for much of February. I missed the day
when the rare calls from GA/ SC/ TN were coming in. Let's hope for more
of this rare DX.
WINTER BEVERAGE AERIAL NOW DOWN: Yesterday David H and myself dug up the beverage I have been using for the winter. It is ploughing time, and Sanny the Fermer needs into his field. We were going to make a small mini movie, but were over in the field before we knew it, and had forgotton the camera!! I may well try and alter the old beverage a little, by putting the wire up higher on taller sticks. It does work absolutely fine as it stands, but the gain on the one through the open field especially on the hf part of the MW band was quite dramatically higher. No rush, but we will get on to this.
NEW PERSEUS RELEASE DUE ANY DAY: Perseus users have been promised
a new Perseus release around the end of Feb, which shoukld mean any
day now. Nico has this time added some kind of a different notch filter.
We eagerly await. I wonder if there will be any work done on the tones
that appear if the tiny thin playback bar is missed during playback
searches. I hope so. I am also interested in the PC horse power required
for this up and coming version. I am on the limit as it stands, of my
PC's ability. Perseus will stutter if I open up an HTML freq list!!
Well as they say, you can't take 10 gallons from a 5 gallon drum.